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Halloween Night Sky

On Wednesday night everyone will be thinking of tricks and treats. On that night a one-day-old full Pumpkin Moon will grace the skies. This moon will be bright enough to cast shadows and contribute to the mystery and magic of the evening.

The moon will be in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, which means it is well placed in the zodiac to rise almost overhead late at night. Look for the moon rising in the east an hour or more after sunset. Look for a pumpkin orange color as it gets above the distant horizon.

As the moon rises it will seem smaller. This is not a large moon, though it will look so early in the evening. The moon is in apogee, which means it is as far from the Earth as it gets in its 28-day orbit. Astronomers estimate the moon will be 252,000 miles away, more than 20,000 miles farther than when the moon is in perigee.

Planets

There are three visible planets, well spread out in our dark sky. The red planet Mars appears low in the southwestern sky after sunset. Mars will only be conveniently visible for up to an hour after sunset, when it drops behind the tree line and sets.

The brilliant Jupiter rises in the east in the evening, about two hours after sunset. Jupiter is the brightest planet in our evening sky, brighter than any star and obvious to spot around 10 p.m. high in the east.

Venus is the third visible planet. It rises in the eastern sky around 4 a.m. It is far easier to see an hour before sunrise. The planet glows well above the tree line. While Venus is rising in the east, Jupiter is on the other side of the sky, in the west.

The ringed-planet Saturn is hidden this week, and for most of the following week caught in the glare of the sun. Saturn will be visible later, but only in our early morning sky, just before dawn.